1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a leg restraint for immobilizing the legs of a cow or other animal for the process of trimming the animals hooves or for inspecting the hooves and legs for medical reasons. The leg restraint is used in conjunction with a cattle immobilizing chute which immobilizes the cattle's body, while the leg latch immobilizes the legs and hooves.
2. Description of the Related Art
The hooves of ungulated animals grow continually. In some situations the animal walks enough so that the hooves are naturally worn down. But domesticated livestock typically do not walk or roam sufficiently, and in many cases their hooves need to be trimmed on occasion for the health and well being of the animal. The hooves of cattle are typically trimmed while the animal is immobilizing in a chute. In some cases the chute is raised and the hooves are trimmed when hanging below the animal. In other cases the animal is placed in a “layover” chute that flips the animal onto it side, with the hooves extending from the chute. It is often easiest to trim the hooves when the legs are restrained or stabilized. Hoof trimming chutes are well known. Some examples can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,766 to Wedman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,332 to Riley, and U.S. Pat. No. 8,561,576 to Pingsterhaus. All three disclose variations of a chute for holding and immobilizing a cattle and laying over the cattle on to its side in order trim the hooves.
When the animal is in the layover chute the legs are extended outward and at about waist height, which makes them easy to access for medical inspection or hoof trimming. The legs need to restrained in order to hold the hooves still for trimming. Many hoof trimmers use a rope or chain to tie the hooves down. This can be a somewhat time consuming operation and often requires two hands to secure a rope or chain around the animal and then secure the rope or chain to a part of the chute. The rope or chain is also directly on the animal's leg, which can rub or bind the flesh and injure the animal. And once the hooves have been trimmed the rope or chain must be untied, which is both time consuming and can also potentially injure the animal. There is a need, therefore, for a device for quickly and easily securing an animals leg while the animal is in a chute, and that does not rub or scrape the animal's leg.